The Great Reno Balloon Race🎈

Our most recent adventure was a quick overnight trip to Reno, Nevada! It was a super random and very last-minute decision but, “When in Rome?” (and it’s only 3.5 hours from Turlock) When trying to decide what to do for the weekend, we saw that The Great Reno Balloon Race (GRBR) was happening the next morning and we were sold. We had never heard of it before, but it sounded like a really big deal! #itwas This event started in 1982 in hopes to keep visitors in town the weekend between the State Fair and the Reno Air Races and 35 years later, it is known as a world-renowned, and local, community tradition!

We spent the night in Carson City, Nevada–you could barely call it a night because we checked-in at midnight and checked-out by 5:00 am because the GRBR is an early morning event. When I say early I mean early, as in the gates to the park opened at 3:30 am. #woof The super glow show was at 5:00 am and then the actual ascension and race was at 7:00 am. We just went for the 7:00 am portion, as we thought that was early enough 😅

We really had no idea what to expect and even joked that it might end up being something similar to what we had already seen at the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, IN. Not that it’s bad, it’s just that we drove 3.5 hours and hoping to have a fun activity while in Reno!

As you can see from the pictures it didn’t disappoint! The views were gorgeous…

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Not only were there 90+balloons but they had booths for food & crafts–
basically a festival!

A GRBR breakfast–mini donuts🍩 and mimosas 🥂

After the race we took a drive downtown–Early mornings in a casino city are pretty dead!

On our drive home we made a random pit stop in Truckee, California–just over the state line from Nevada. It was such a cute town, a gem in the middle of nowhere! Had I known about it before, I would’ve booked us a place to stay here instead. It was a great mix between a mini Vail, CO and Jackson Hole, WY–basically go check it out for yourself!